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See also other materials on "Lawsuits & regulatory action against companies"

BP: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in U.S. state of Alaska: 

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: Greenpeace, Inupiat Eskimos Launch Court Challenge Against BP Amoco's Arctic Oil Drilling [update] (Greenpeace USA, 30 Mar. 2000)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: Inupiat Eskimos and Greenpeace go to court to challenge BP Amoco oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean (Greenpeace, Oct. 1999)

• comments by BP: Northstar and the Native community (BP)

Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP): case in Australia court regarding the company's conduct in Papua New Guinea: 

• BHP washes its hands of Dead River [Papua New Guinea]: BHP Billiton today washed its hands of responsibility for the damage its Ok Tedi mine is creating (Mineral Policy Institute, 8 Feb. 2002)

  • company website: Ok Tedi Mining (OK Tedi Mining Limited)

• The Big Ugly at Ok Tedi:  In an extraordinary move, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government has passed legislation that prevents any government agency from taking or supporting “in any way” proceedings against the mining multinational BHP-Billiton “in respect of an environmental claim” over damage caused by the Ok Tedi mine. (Bob Burton, editor of Mining Monitor, in Multinational Monitor, Jan./Feb. 2002)

  • company website: Ok Tedi Mining (OK Tedi Mining Limited)

• Outrage At Png Attempt To Give BHP A Royal Farewell [Papua New Guinea]:...After permitting the company to dump 80,000 tonnes of waste a day into the Fly and Ok Tedi river system since 1984 BHP has now been given a final gift from the PNG National Government - an unrestricted legal indemnity for all the pollution and destruction it has already caused and will occur in the future as result of the continuing operation of its Ok Tedi mine. It has precipitated an unprecedented constitutional challenge by former PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. (Mineral Policy Institute and PNG NGO Environmental Watch Group, 12 Dec. 2001)

  • company website: Ok Tedi Mining (OK Tedi Mining Limited)

• Landowners blockade BHP's rat run from Ok Tedi [Papua New Guinea]: A group of women and children landowners have shut down operations at BHP Billitons' Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea. The landowners have staged a sit-down, blocking a bridge leading to the mine site, allowing mine workers to leave but not to enter the site. They have been protesting for two days over legislation apparently designed to absolve BHP of its liability for environmental damage. Damage from the mine is extremely severe and will last for the better part of this century. It is destroying food, fisheries and the forests on which people living along the Fly River (Mineral Policy Institute, 26 Nov. 2001)

• BHP Billiton eyes Ok Tedi environment funds [Papua New Guinea]: BHP Billiton said yesterday it would make sure money was available for mine closure and environmental remediation before it moved its 52 percent stake in Papua New Guinea's Ok Tedi copper mine into a trust. (Reuters, 17 Oct. 2001)

• Inmet says Ok Tedi copper investment preserved [Papua New Guinea]: Inmet Mining Corp., an 18 percent stakeholder in the Ok Tedi copper-gold mine in Papua New Guinea, said yesterday it was pleased with an in-principle deal that would allow the project's operator BHP Billiton to exit the environmentally challenged mine. The government of Papua New Guinea said overnight that BHP's 52 percent stake will be put into an arm's length trust which would hold the interest on behalf of the Western Province and the nation. (Lesley Wroughton, Reuters, 28 Sep. 2001)

• BHP Walkout Leaves Threat Of Ok Tedi Environmental Refugees [Papua New Guinea]: The BHP Billiton agreement to exit its Ok Tedi mine leaves Australia facing a potential environmental refugee crisis less than one hundred kilometres from mainland Australia. BHP Billiton and the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government have agreed basic conditions for the company to get out of the Ok Tedi copper mine. At the same time damage from the mine is extremely severe and will last for the better part of this century. It is destroying food, fisheries and the forests which people living along the Fly River in PNG just to the north of Australia rely on. (Mineral Policy Institute, 27 Sep. 2001)

  • company website: Ok Tedi Mining (OK Tedi Mining Limited)

• Victoria court sets path for PNG Ok Tedi lawsuit: The Supreme Court of Victoria [Australia] yesterday gave Papua New Guinea landowners until January 7 to decide if they would participate in a class action surrounding the controversial Ok Tedi copper mine. The court said the class action should be advertised in PNG newspapers, on radio and at public meetings, with the onus on landowners to opt-out if they do not want to participate in the class action. Landowners won a settlement against Ok Ted Mining Ltd in 1996 for environmental damage caused by tailings from the mine. But they launched a new case in April last year arguing that OTML and BHP Ltd, now BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc had not lived up to promises to find a safer way of disposing of mine tailings. (Reuters, 28 Aug. 2001)

• PNG landowners demand Australia fund mine clean-up: Landowners in Papua New Guinea called on Australia yesterday to pay the bill for what they called environmental destruction caused by BHP's Ok Tedi copper mine if the company walked away without cleaning up (Gary Cox, Reuters, 27 June 2001) 

• OK Tedi (Slater & Gordon, solicitors for plaintiffs)

• 500 PNG clans join Ok Tedi suit against BHP (Barry Fitzgerald, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 2000)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: Ok Tedi 2 (Slater and Gordon, solicitors for plaintiffs, 11 Apr. 2000) 

• comments by Broken Hill Proprietary: Legal Action on Ok Tedi Misconceived: BHP (BHP, 11 Apr. 2000)

• Writ lodged over BHP Ok Tedi mine (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 11 Apr. 2000)

• BHP's Big Mining Mess (Danny Kennedy, Multinational Monitor, Apr. 2000)

• World Bank echoes calls for Ok Tedi closure (Mineral Policy Institute, 7 Mar. 2000) 

  • World Bank - Full Ok Tedi Report

• Statement by Papua New Guinea groups on Ok Tedi (August 1999)

• One of World's Worst Mine Disasters Gets Worse (Mineral Policy Center, Mining Watch Canada, Mine Watch UK, 11 Aug. 1999)

• Abstract: The Ok Tedi Settlement: Issues, Outcomes and Implications (Glenn Banks and Chris Ballard, 1997)

• OK Tedi Truce (Mining Monitor, vol. 1, no. 3, 1996)

• Cleaning up Ok Tedi: Settlement Favors Yonggom People (Stuart Kirsch, Journal of the International Institute, vol. 4, no. 1, fall 1996) 

Cambior: case in Canada court regarding the company's conduct in Guyana: 

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: 

  • A background report: The Omai Gold Mine Disaster (Public Interest Research Associates/Recherches Internationales Québec, 30 Mar. 1997)

  • Guyana Legal Defense Fund (26 Mar. 1997)

• comments by Cambior: Cambior secures dismissal of Omai-related class action (Cambior, 17 Aug. 1998)

• Recent news articles and letters to editor regarding Omai gold mine case (S.D. Smith, Guiana Shield, Aug. 1999)

• Cambior case a battle of witnesses (Philip Preville, Montreal Mirror, 3 Sep. 1998)

• Canadian Mining Company Taken to Court (Inter Press Service, 23 June 1998)

• Mining spill? What mining spill? (Francois Shalom, The Gazette [Montreal], 3 June 1998)

Cape plc: case in U.K. court regarding the company's conduct in South Africa: 

• Less money for mining victims - Cape plc’s South African asbestos victims will get only one-third of the £21-million originally promised them by the British-based multinational. (Justin Arenstein, Mail & Guardian [South Africa], 14 Mar. 2003)

• Black workers to receive £45m asbestos settlement [South Africa] - Thousands of black South African workers suffering from asbestos-related diseases yesterday secured multi-million pound compensation deals from two leading mining companies, after six years of legal wrangling in London and Johannesburg. British company Cape has agreed to pay £7.5m in compensation to 7,500 workers, and Gencor, a South African company which took over many Cape operations in 1979, has agreed to set up a trust fund for its workers, worth 448 million rand (£37.5m). Gencor will pay an additional £3.21m to the Cape claimants, who were also exposed to Gencor's operations. (David Black, Guardian, 14 Mar. 2003)

  • SA mineworkers win asbestos payout -...the largest settlement in the country's history. [South Africa] (BBC News, 14 Mar. 2003)

• Asbestos deal won't bring back the dead [South Africa] - Various organisations said on Thursday nothing would reverse the loss of life and damage suffered by victims of asbestos-related diseases but they welcomed the settlement agreements with Cape plc and Gencor with a mixture of anger and relief. (South African Press Association, in Mail & Guardian [South Africa], 14 Mar. 2003)

• Asbestos Claimants Accept Gencor Offer [South Africa] - Lawyers representing asbestos victims approved a settlement offer from Gencor yesterday...Part of the R460m settlement offer would be set aside for claims against Cape plc (Chantelle Benjamin, Business Day [South Africa], 4 Feb. 2003)

• Asbestos kills, judgment awaits [South Africa] - Herman Kubari is dead...He was the first of 1 600 applicants in a motion in the Johannesburg high court late last year to interdict Gencor, the investment holding company, from unbundling its stake in Impala Platinum and distributing the proceeds to shareholders until sufficient provision had been made for damages actions brought for asbestos-related diseases. (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 30 Jan. 2003)

• Gencor denies it employed asbestos claimants [South Africa] (Ronnie Morris, Business Report, 25 Nov. 2002)

• Gencor opposes class action as 37 seek payment for asbestos-related diseases [South Africa] - SA MINING company, Gencor, has contested the basis for a class action in SA. (Business Day [South Africa], 22 Nov. 2002)

  • Gencor's asbestos liability could be huge, court told [South Africa] - Thousands of mineworkers were exposed to the hazards of asbestos dust and as a result thousands of cases could come before the courts (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 21 Nov. 2002)

• Asbestos victims seek court nod for class action against Gencor [South Africa] - The Johannesburg high court will be asked tomorrow to recognise the right of people suffering from asbestos-related diseases to bring a class action for damages against Gencor, the investment holding company. [refers also to Cape plc] (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 18 Nov. 2002)

• Claimants set to pursue Gencor in UK [UK/South Africa] -...Lawyers for the claimants are apparently re-opening the case because Cape plc failed to pay the first tranche of the settlement on the due date. Gencor has denied any liability arising from claims by asbestos miners (Business Day [South Africa], 14 Nov. 2002)

• Asbestos victims' lawyers carry costs - UK-based company Cape plc reneged on more than just the settlement agreement it had with 7500 SA [South Africa] victims suffering from asbestos-related disease, says London lawyer for the claimants Richard Meeran. Cape plc failed to pay more than £50000, being the costs of a medical review of the claimants, until forced to do after a judgment was obtained against the company. The £20000 in expenses incurred in setting up a trust fund in SA are still outstanding. (Business Day [South Africa], 28 Oct. 2002)

• Gencor mum on asbestos case [South Africa] - Gencor, the mining holding company, said that until it had papers served upon it in South Africa, it had no comment on the decision by the English High Court to include Gencor as a co-defendant in the asbestos case of Cape plc, the UK building materials company. (Justin Brown, Business Day [South Africa], 16 Oct. 2002)

  • Miners take Cape Plc back to court [South Africa/UK] - Lawyers for sick South African miners said on Monday they would return to court in London on Tuesday in a bid to get building materials firm Cape Plc to honour a settlement it reached with former employees. (Reuters, 14 Oct. 2002)

• Cape avoids justice again - ACTSA [Action for Southern Africa] campaigners protested today outside the Royal Courts of Justice to express their outrage and disappointment at the collapse of the out-of-court settlement between Cape Plc and the 7,500 South African asbestos claimants, which was made last December. (ACTSA - Action for Southern Africa, 15 Oct. 2002) 

• SA asbestos lawyers could face dilemma: Gencor may seek redress from Cape [South Africa] - Lawyers for the 7500 SA victims suffering from asbestos-related diseases will ask the British High Court next week to make Gencor a co-defendant in proceedings against UK-based company Cape plc. (Business Day [South Africa], 8 Oct. 2002)

• Asbestos claim case takes new twist with Gencor: Workers to challenge company's unbundling [South Africa] - The case brought by 7500 SA mineworkers against UK multinational Cape plc took a new twist last Friday when London lawyers joined forces with SA lawyers to challenge the terms of Gencor's proposed unbundling.  Gencor's shareholders are scheduled to meet on Wednesday on whether or not to approve the proposal which provides R409m for the costs of defending asbestos claims, but no provision to compensate victims. (Business Day [South Africa], 30 Sep. 2002)

• Cape Plc fails to pay asbestos claimants [South Africa] - The lawyers of thousands of South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases said on Monday they would return to the United Kingdom High Court in an effort to force mining company Cape Plc to pay overdue settlement claims. (South African Press Association, in Business Report [South Africa], 16 Sep. 2002)  

  • Cape plc's P5.6m goes to banks, not victims [South Africa] - Poor South Africans, thousands of them ill and dying, are unlikely to see a cent from the sale of the manufacturing division of Cape plc, the British multinational they hold responsible for their asbestos-related diseases. (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 16 Sep. 2002)

• Asbestos case: Bankers could be held liable [South Africa] - The bankers of Cape plc, the company that reached an out-of-court settlement with South African asbestosis victims last year, would be held personally responsible if it was proved they were responsible for reneging on the agreement, the victims' legal counsel said on Tuesday. The directors of the company and its bankers, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland, were formally notified of this on Tuesday (South African Press Association, 10 Sep. 2002)

• Asbestos Lawyers Hand Cape a Final Ultimatum to Pay [South Africa] - Lawyers acting on behalf of victims of Cape plc's asbestos operations on Monday handed the multi-national an ultimatum to comply with an out-of-court settlement. (South African Press Association, 2 Sep. 2002)

• Asbestos: jobs, profits and sustainable development - A hideous blue spectre hovers behind the cleaner, greener image being promoted on the eve of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD). It is the spectre of asbestos, a legacy of a greed-driven and uncaring past. (Terry Bell, Labour News Network, 22 Aug. 2002)

• Asbestos victims' wait drags on [South Africa] - UK company Cape plc is expected to make payment of its first £11m to the 7500 SA victims of asbestos-related disease on August 20, according to lawyers for the victims. Late last week, however, Cape plc was unable to give a date for payment of the first instalment. The company was originally due to make the payment at the end of June, but this was delayed due to a major financial restructuring exercise. (Business Day [South Africa], 8 Aug. 2002)

• Asbestosis victims wait for their millions [South Africa] - Mining company Cape plc is still unable to give a date for the payout of £11-million (about R175-million) in damages due to the 7 500 victims of asbestosis contracted from the company's mines in the Northern Cape. (Peter Fabricius, The Star [South Africa], 5 Aug. 2002)

• Asbestos firm [Cape] warns of claims risk - A UK-owned building firm, which has agreed to pay £20m to South African miners over asbestos-related claims, has warned it may suffer further payouts if bankers scupper the deal...Any reopening of the legal battle, which involved a landmark judgement by law lords, could escalate Cape's losses related to the claim, the firm warned. (BBC News, 5 June 2002)

• Justice sought for workers suffering from asbestosis [South Africa] [regarding trust fund for victims of Cape plc] (Sanchia Temkin, Business Day [South Africa], 23 Apr. 2002)

• UK payout for asbestosis victims: British-based multinational Cape plc is expected to pay a first tranche of £21-million (about R336-million) in June to a trust set up to aid sufferers from asbestos-related diseases in South Africa. (Brendan Seery, Independent [South Africa], 12 Jan. 2002)

• South African Asbestos Victims Settle With Cape: British-based multinational to pay €33.8m/$30.2m (ICEM - International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 8 Jan. 2002)

  • Asbestosis victims to get first of £21m compensation cash by June (Jacquie Motsoatsoe, Business Report [South Africa], 8 Jan. 2002)

• Cape to compensate South Africa asbestos miners: Building materials firm Cape Plc reached a conditional deal last week to pay 21 million pounds ($30 million) to South African miners who blame it for asbestos-related diseases they contracted in the 1970s. (Rex Merrifield, Reuters, 24 Dec. 2001)

  • Victory for South African asbestos claimants: Cape plc, who mined asbestos in South Africa for several decades, has today finally agreed to a compensation settlement of £21 million for the thousands of South African asbestos victims. (ACTSA [Action for Southern Africa], 21 Dec. 2001)

• Blow to asbestos claimants: Britain's Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that people suffering from asbestos-related diseases will not receive compensation if they were exposed to the mineral fibres by more than one employer. But the ruling does not affect the claims by South Africans against Cape PLC. (News24.com [South Africa], 13 Dec. 2001)

• Asbestos victims widen quest for compensation [South Africa/UK]: THE victims in SA's biggest asbestos claim have shown SA mining company Gefco and insurance firm General Accident SA that they intend to widen their focus in their quest for compensation. Although talks are continuing to settle the matter with Cape plc, the victims are looking to the two companies to acknowledge responsibility for the past and offer compensation. (Business Day [South Africa], 23 Nov. 2001)

• Cape plc Opens Talks With South African Asbestos Victims: First breakthrough in compensation campaign? - Cape mined asbestos in South Africa for almost a century. "Children were employed, unprotected, in the most hazardous tasks of sorting asbestos with their bare hands and trampling it with their bare feet," recalled ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in letters last month to Montpellier and other major shareholders. "Due to the atrocious conditions at the mines and mills, thousands of South Africans developed the fatal asbestos cancer, mesothelioma, and the debilitating disease of asbestosis." (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions [ICEM],  6 Nov. 2001)

• Compensate South African Victims, Cape plc Told: Multinational should settle now with asbestos claimants, world union says -...Cape closed its British asbestos factory in 1968, due to the high incidence of asbestos-related diseases. But it kept its South African operation running for another decade after that, and lobbied the apartheid regime to suppress information about the health risks. (ICEM, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 24 Oct. 2001)

• Justice delayed for a childhood in asbestos: South Africans seek belated compensation [from British company Cape PLC] for their apartheid-era exploitation (Chris McGreal, Guardian [UK], 4 June 2001) 

• Trial date set, as Cape [British asbestos company Cape PLC] hints at settlement (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], 22 May 2001)

• Cape [British asbestos company Cape PLC] shamed at AGM [annual general meeting] (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], 10 May 2001)

• Apartheid's Killer Legacy [regarding the conduct of British asbestos company Cape PLC in South Africa] (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], Apr. 2001)

• "Landmark Law Lords ruling on jurisdiction over companies" (Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, autumn 2000/winter 2001)

• Global Asbestos Justice: South African Asbestos Victims Win Right to Sue Cape plc in UK Courts (Laurie Kazen-Allen, Multinational Monitor, Sep. 2000)

• "Companies with nowhere to hide" (Richard Meeran [solicitor for claimants], The Times [London], 1 Aug. 2000)

• "Landmark victory for asbestos litigants" (Daily Mail and Guardian [Johannesburg], 21 July 2000) 

• Full text of the House of Lords judgment in the Cape plc case (House of Lords, 20 July 2000)

• "Bringing the Multinationals to Book" (The Observer [U.K.] Comment, 18 June 2000) 

Chentex factory / Nien Hsing Textile Company: case in U.S. court regarding the Taiwanese company's conduct in Nicaragua: 

• full text of complaint against Chentex and Nien Hsing Textile Company (5 Dec. 2000)

• Chentex accord signed - An Update on this Unprecedented, Anti-sweatshop Victory [Nicaragua] (Campaign for Labor Rights, 11 May 2001)

• US case backs Nicaraguans' rights (Nancy Dunne, Financial Times, 5 Dec. 2000)

• Nicaragua's textile battle zone (Andrew Bounds, Financial Times, 28 Nov. 2000)

Chevron: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Nigeria: 

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against , Chevron for conduct in Nigeria] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Chevron's Nigeria Case to Proceed (Jason Hoppin, law.com, 16 May 2000)

• Chevron's Nigerian Quagmire (Jason Hoppin, The Recorder/Cal Law, 11 Apr. 2000)

Coca-Cola: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Colombia:

• Coca-Cola karma: irony in advertising? -...Today, the Coca-Cola Company is holding its annual shareholders’ meeting. One participant will be William Mendoza...the President of the National Food Industry Workers’ Union in his hometown of Barrancabermeja...Paramilitary groups have killed seven employees of Coca-Cola bottlers – all union members – in Colombia since 1990. Mendoza claims that he is among 65 union members who have received death threats from paramilitary groups. (Rick Stern, Montana Kaimin [USA], 16 Apr. 2003)

• Human rights, salary at issue for Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola should...use its influence in Colombia to encourage greater protections of human rights. These were just a few of the more controversial proposals members of the Atlanta company's board of directors fielded from some of the 400 shareholders gathered here Wednesday for Coke's annual meeting...Perhaps the most controversial proposal concerned allegations that the company's plant managers used paramilitary groups to intimidate and kill eight union organizers at a bottling plant in Barrancabermeja, Colombia...Coke denies that it is in any way responsible...Richard Shaw of the AFL-CIO implored the company to take a more active role in helping protect the union organizers. Deval Partrick, Coke's general counsel, said the company has gone as far as providing security for Colombian individuals being threatened. (David Kaplan, Houston Chronicle, 17 Apr. 2003)

• Partial victory for Coca-Cola workers -...On March 31, US District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez ruled that a group of Colombian plaintiffs can move forward with cases brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) for human rights violations committed by paramilitaries in Colombia on behalf of two Colombian Coca-Cola bottling companies: Panamco and Bebidas y Alimentos. (New Colombia News Agency, 10 Apr. 2003)

• Coke bottler faces death suit - A US court has ruled that Coca-Cola's main Latin American bottler can stand trial for allegedly hiring right-wing paramilitaries to kill and intimidate union leaders in Colombia...Panamerican Beverages (Panamco), Coca-Cola's main bottler in Latin America of which it owns about 25%, and Colombian bottler Bebidas y Alimentos now face a trial. But District Judge Jose E Martinez in Miami excluded the Atlanta-based drinks giant Coca-Cola and its Colombian unit because its bottling agreement did not give it "explicit control" over labour issues in Colombia. (Stefan Armbruster, BBC News, 2 Apr. 2003)

• Court Rules that Human Rights Case Can Go Forward Against Coca-Cola Bottlers (Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Fund, and Dan Kovalik, United Steel Workers Union, posted on CorpWatch website, 1 Apr. 2003)

• {···español} Investigan en E.U. a embotelladora de Coca Cola en Colombia por presunto apoyo a paramilitares - Una Corte Federal de Miami aceptó una demanda contra la empresa en un caso de muerte y persecución de sindicalistas. El caso fue aceptado el 30 de marzo por el juez José E. Martínez, de una corte de esa ciudad, y afecta a las empresas Panamericana Beverages Inc. (la embotelladora de la gaseosa en América Latina) así como a las colombianas Panamco y Bebidas y Alimentos, según los abogados de los trabajadores. El caso que motivó la demanda es el de Isidro Segundo Gil, dirigente sindical que fue encontrado muerto en el interior de la embotelladora en la población de Carepa (Antioquia), en 1996. (El Tiempo, 3 abril 2003)

• Judge: Lawsuit against Colombian Coca-Cola bottlers can proceed (Jane Bussey, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 1 Apr. 2003)

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• Investment and Human Rights: The Era of Responsibility - As an American oil company [Unocal] heads to court [in USA] for alleged human-rights abuses in Burma, a new era of foreign investment begins in which firms must carefully consider the behaviour of their partners [also refers to lawsuits against Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil] (Murray Hiebert, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 July 2002)

• Coke, Colombia bottler fight lawsuit [USA] - Attorneys for Coca-Cola and its bottlers in Colombia argued Thursday that a federal judge in Miami should dismiss a $500 million lawsuit claiming the companies were indirectly responsible for anti-union violence in the war-torn nation. (Scott Leith, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 7 June 2002)

  • Murder in Colombia Lands Coca-Cola in Court Battle (Susan Ferriss, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 6 June 2002)

• The Coca-Cola Killings: Is Plan Colombia funding a bloodbath of union activists? (David Bacon, American Prospect, 28 Jan. 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against Coca-Cola for conduct in Colombia] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Recent ILRF [International Labor Rights Fund] Cases to Enforce Human Rights Under the ATCA [includes reference to human rights-related cases against Unocal, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp] (Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of International Labor Rights Fund, in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• It's the real thing—murders at Coke [Colombia: regarding the case brought in U.S. court alleging Coca Cola, Panamerican Beverages & Bebidas y Alimentos were complicit in the assassination of Colombian union leaders] (David Bacon, Labor Advocate Online, 24 Nov. 2001)

• It's the Real Thing: Murder - Union activity at...Colombian worksites, including several run by American companies, has been greeted with terror. (Aram Roston, The Nation, 3 Sep. 2001)

• Coke Abuse in Colombia: Coca-Cola and its associates are responsible for “the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, detention and murder” of union members working at the company’s Colombia bottling plants, charges a labor coalition in a July lawsuit. (Charlie Cray, Multinational Monitor, Sep. 2001)

• {···français} Coca-Cola accusé d'assassinat syndical: «Une campagne de terreur» dénoncée en Colombie. (Fabrice Rousselot, Libération [France], 21-22 juillet 2001)

• Coca-Cola sued over bottling plant 'terror campaign': Coca-Cola's bottling plants in Colombia used rightwing death squads to terrorise workers and prevent the organisation of unions, it was alleged in a Miami court yesterday. The US union United Steelworkers is suing Coca-Cola on behalf of the Colombian union Sinaltrainal for what the lawsuit describes as "the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, detention and murder" of workers in Colombian plants.  Coca-Cola denied any responsibility for the alleged atrocities yesterday, saying the company did not own the bottling plants, which operated under contract. (Julian Borger, Guardian [UK], 21 July 2001)

• Coke sued over death squad claims: Trade union leaders in the United States have said they are suing the soft-drinks company Coca-Cola for allegedly hiring right-wing death squads to terrorise workers at its Colombian bottling plant. A spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta said its Colombian bottling plants were run by business partners and denied any wrongdoing by the company. (BBC, 20 July 2001)

• Colombian union suing Coca-Cola in death squad case: Coca-Cola Co.'s Colombian bottlers are working with death squads to kill, threaten and intimidate plant workers, a labor union charged in a federal lawsuit to be filed Friday in Miami.  Coca-Cola, which is named as a defendant, immediately dismissed the racketeering lawsuit, which claims two bottling companies have ties to right-wing paramilitary groups believed responsible for assassinations of union members. (Nick Rosen, Associated Press, in Miami Herald, 20 July 2001) 

• {···español} Coca-Cola rechaza acusaciones sobre nexos con paramilitares: Voceros de la multinacional Coca Cola rechazaron ayer versiones que intentan asociar a la compañía con la contratación de paramilitares en Colombia.  El pronunciamiento se produjo luego de que el sindicato de trabajadores del acero y la Fundación para los Derechos Laborales anunciaran en Washington una demanda contra la multinacional por, supuestamente, acudir a grupos paramilitares para intimidar, secuestrar y asesinar a sindicalistas en Colombia. (El Tiempo [Colombia], 20 Julio 2001)

• {···español} Demandan a Coca Cola por contratar a "paras":  La empresa norteamericana Coca-Cola recurre a agentes de seguridad paramilitares para asesinar, torturar y secuestrar a líderes sindicales de sus embotelladoras en Colombia, denunciaron ayer sindicatos y grupos de derechos laborales, que iniciarán una demanda judicial. (Agence France Presse, in El Colombiano [Colombia], 20 Julio 2001)

• news release by plaintiffs (including download for copy of the complaint): Coca-Cola (Coke) to be sued for human rights abuses in Colombia (United Steel Workers and International Labor Rights Fund, 19 July 2001)

Coca-Cola: Case in U.S. court regarding the company's alleged racial discrimination against employees in USA:

• full text of complaint: Abdallah et. al. v. The Coca-Cola Company (United States Discrict Court, Northern District of Georgia, 22 Apr. 1999)

• exhibits attached to complaint

• Panel rates Coke on diversity [USA] - Coca-Cola has been promoting women and minorities at a faster rate than white men, but a court-appointed task force still found that many minority workers believe they are treated less fairly...The report on the workplace climate at Coca-Cola, issued Wednesday, comes nearly two years after the company settled a class-action racial discrimination lawsuit. (Scott Leith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 26 Sep. 2002)

• Former Labor Secretary To Chair Coca Cola Compliance Taskforce (New Journal & Guide [Norfolk, Virginia], 22 Mar. 2001)

• History of justice long for task chief: Ex-labor secretary presiding over Coca-Cola anti-bias panel first influenced the company 28 years ago. (Henry Unger and Scott Leith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 16 Mar. 2001)

• After $190 Million Settlement, Coke Rep Speaks to Black Press (BlackPressUSA.com, 26 Jan. 2001)

• Suits put spotlight on workplace diversity (USA Today, 9 Jan. 2001)

• Coca-Cola Settles Racial Bias Case (New York Times, 17 Nov. 2000)

• Coke agrees to spend $192 million to settle discrimination lawsuit: 2000 employees to get $40,000 cash payment (Atlanta Constitution, 17 Nov. 2000)

• Summary of settlement agreement in Abdallah, et al. v. The Coca-Cola Company (Mehri, Malkin and Ross, 16 Nov. 2000)

• Discrimination Lawsuit: Coca-Cola accused of 'companywide pattern' (Atlanta Constitution, 24 Apr. 1999)

Donna Karan: case in U.S. court regarding the company's alleged conduct in New York:

• Lawsuit Accuses Fashion House of Running Sweatshops (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 8 June 2000)

Dow Chemical-Bhopal [see Union Carbide, below]

DynCorp: Case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Ecuador & Colombia:

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• Ecuador Border Tainted by U.S.-Made Coca Killer - Collateral Damage from Colombia's Drug War -...In an attempt to kill coca leaf -- the raw material for cocaine -- Colombian planes are using a U.S.-manufactured herbicide near the border with Ecuador...But residents of San Francisco 2 want the spraying stopped. In February, they filed a class action lawsuit for unspecified damages in Washington against the Dyn Corp., a Virginia firm responsible for the spraying. (Reese Ehrlich, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 May 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against DynCorp] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Recent ILRF [International Labor Rights Fund] Cases to Enforce Human Rights Under the ATCA [includes reference to human rights-related cases against Unocal, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp] (Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of International Labor Rights Fund, in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Text of class action complaint against DynCorp in U.S. court [download]: "The claims in this action arise from the DynCorp Defendants' conduct in connection with the implementation of their contract with agencies of the U.S. government to exterminate, by use of fumigants sprayed from airplanes, plantations of cocaine and/or heroin poppies in large tracks of the Colombian rainforest owned by private citizens of Colombia. During the course of implementing this contract, Defendants also sprayed large sections of Ecuador that border with Colombia, and caused severe physical and mental damage to Plaintiffs, their children, and other similarly situated lawful residents of Ecuador who have nothing whatever to do with the production of illegal drugs in Colombia." (International Labor Rights Fund, 25 Sep. 2001)

• Environment: Ecuadorians file U.S. suit over Plan Colombia - Ecuadorian Indians are taking legal action in federal court here, charging that a U.S. company that was contracted to carry out fumigation of illicit crops in neighboring Colombia recklessly sprayed their homes and farms, causing illnesses and deaths, and destroying crops. U.S.-based attorneys representing 10,000 individuals living in the Amazon rainforest near the border with Colombia filed a class action complaint against Virginia-based DynCorp Corporation in federal court here Sep. 11. A DynCorp spokesperson said the company has not been notified about the complaint and declined to comment further. (Inter Press Service, 21 Sep. 2001)

ExxonMobil: case in U.S. court regarding the company's alleged conduct in Aceh, Indonesia:

• Powell's Awkward Position [USA/Aceh-Indonesia] -...A State Department ruling this month sent a shudder through the human rights community. Legal counsel William H. Taft IV asked U.S. District Judge Louis Oberdorfer to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Exxon Mobil of terrorizing Indonesian villagers who somehow thwart the world's biggest oil company. The suit, brought by the International Labor Rights Fund, cited murder, torture and rape. (Mary McGrory, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2002)

• Letter to Secretary Powell [U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell] Regarding Aceh Lawsuit [Indonesia] - We are writing to express our extreme concern with the July 29th opinion issued by the Office of the Legal Advisor of the US Department of State to the Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in response to his request for the Department’s views in connection with the case Doe et.al. v. ExxonMobil...We view such a response from the State Department as an act that clearly subordinates human rights concerns to commercial interests. (letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell from 13 public interest groups, 26 Aug. 2002)

• Groups Shocked as Officials Urge Judge to Back ExxonMobil - News that the [U.S.] State Department urged a federal court judge to dismiss the case after he asked about claims by ExxonMobil's lawyers that the lawsuit could compromise U.S. interests, particularly the 'war on terrorism', has shocked the human rights community. (Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, 8 Aug. 2002)

  • Individuals struggle to hold corporations accountable for abuses -...despite the villagers' efforts, the US government has recently made an attempt to block the ExxonMobil lawsuit claiming that it will hurt US relations with Jakarta, whom they consider an important ally in their war against terror. (Shravanti Reddy, Digital Freedom Network, 8 Aug. 2002)
   
• ExxonMobil welcomes US backing on Aceh human rights lawsuit - Exxon Mobil Corp rejected suggestions that the US government had acted inappropriately in urging the dismissal of a lawsuit against the oil company over its operations in Indonesia. (AFX News, 8 Aug. 2002)

• Text of the Lawsuit Against ExxonMobil: I [part 1 of 2] [lawsuit in U.S. court concerning the company's alleged conduct in Aceh]: The complete text of the disputed lawsuit against ExxonMobil for its alleged complicity in human rights abuses in Aceh province (Laksamana.Net [Indonesia], 8 Aug. 2002)

• Text of the Lawsuit Against ExxonMobil: II [Part 2 of 2] (Laksamana.Net [Indonesia], 8 Aug. 2002)

• ExxonMobil Responds - With the US government firmly on its side, energy giant ExxonMobil claims allegations of human rights abuses filed against it in a lawsuit on behalf of 11 villagers in Aceh province are groundless. (Laksamana.Net [Indonesia], 8 Aug. 2002)

• U.S. Backs Oil Giant on Lawsuit in Indonesia - The State Department is urging a United States court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a human rights group against Exxon Mobil over its operations in a war-torn province of Indonesia. In response to a request by the corporation for an opinion, the department declared that pursuit of the case would harm Washington's campaign against terrorism. (Jane Perlez, New York Times, 8 Aug. 2002)

• U.S./Indonesia: Bush Backtracks on Corporate Responsibility - The U.S. State Department has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit against the Exxon Mobil Corporation for its alleged complicity in human rights violations in Indonesia, raising questions about the Bush administration's commitment to corporate responsibility, Human Rights Watch said today..."It is the height of hypocrisy for the State Department to publicly promote human rights principles for the oil and gas industry and then tell a judge that scrutiny of an oil company's human rights record runs counter to foreign policy," said Roth [Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch] (Human Rights Watch, 7 Aug. 2002)

• U.S. Moves to Block Human-Rights Lawsuit Against Exxon Mobil - The U.S. has moved to block a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. for alleged human-rights abuses at its Indonesian natural-gas operations, claiming the court action could hurt relations with Jakarta and undermine the war on terrorism. (Tom Wright, Dow Jones Newswires, 6 Aug. 2002)

• US tries to halt rights suit against Exxon - The US is trying to quash a human rights lawsuit launched by Indonesian villagers against Exxon Mobil, claiming it could undermine the war on terrorism. (Edward Alden, Financial Times, 5 Aug. 2002)

• full text of U.S. State Department letter: Text of State Department Opinion Regarding ExxonMobil Litigation [download from homepage of International Labor Rights Fund, under section entitled "New in News and Press"] (letter from U.S. State Dept. Legal Adviser to Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer, 29 July 2002)

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• Indonesia's Guerrilla War Puts Exxon Under Siege -...Exxon Mobil is also the object of a lawsuit filed on behalf of villagers who accuse the company of turning a blind eye to brutality by Indonesian soldiers, who have a long history of human rights abuses and have been paid to provide the plant's security. (Jane Perlez, New York Times, 14 July 2002)

• Exxon Under Fire in Indonesia -...Exxon Mobil is also the object of a lawsuit filed on behalf of villagers who accuse the company of turning a blind eye to brutality by Indonesian soldiers, who have a long history of human rights abuses and have been paid to ensure the plant's security. The company denies the charges. But the suit and Exxon Mobil's travails in Indonesia encapsulate the problems faced by big companies that do business under the protection of ill-trained foreign armies, in places where the United States has strategic interests. (Jane Perlez, Moscow Times, 16 July 2002)

• Investment and Human Rights: The Era of Responsibility - As an American oil company [Unocal] heads to court [in USA] for alleged human-rights abuses in Burma, a new era of foreign investment begins in which firms must carefully consider the behaviour of their partners [also refers to lawsuits against Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil] (Murray Hiebert, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 July 2002)

• ExxonMobil-Sponsored Terrorism? Why are villagers in the Aceh province of Indonesia--or their lawyers--worrying about contributions from Exxon Mobil to George W. Bush and the Republicans? - A year ago, the Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against the energy behemoth, claiming the Mobil half of the conglomerate in the 1990s paid and supported Indonesian military troops that committed human rights abuses in the war-torn province. (David Corn, The Nation, 14 June 2002)

• ExxonMobil Fights Indonesia Rights Suit - ExxonMobil Corp is trying to persuade a [U.S.] federal court to dismiss a year-old lawsuit against it that alleges complicity in atrocities in Indonesia, court documents showed. (Agence France Presse, 30 May 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against ExxonMobil] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Recent ILRF [International Labor Rights Fund] Cases to Enforce Human Rights Under the ATCA [includes reference to human rights-related cases against Unocal, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp] (Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of International Labor Rights Fund, in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• ExxonMobil's Troubled Relationship in Aceh: Questions are being raised about ExxonMobil, the world's largest integrated oil company, retaining the Indonesian army and police forces for security. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 19 Sep. 2001)

• Aceh: Lawsuit accuses Exxon Mobil of complicity in abuses - The US-based oil giant Exxon Mobil is being challenged in an American court over its implication in human rights abuses committed by Indonesian troops in the war-torn territory of Aceh. (Down to Earth Newsletter, Aug. 2001)

• Deadly Drilling in Aceh [lawsuit against ExxonMobil for the company's alleged conduct in Aceh, Indonesia] (Robert Weissman, Multinational Monitor, July/August 2001)

• comments by ExxonMobil: Statement Regarding NGO Human Rights Lawsuit [regarding the company's alleged conduct in Aceh, Indonesia] (ExxonMobil, 25 June 2001)

• Exxon in human rights trouble: A US-based human rights group has filed a lawsuit against global oil giant Exxon Mobil in a federal court, accusing the company of complicity in human rights abuses carried out by the Indonesian military to secure natural gas fields. (Tom McCawley, Financial Times, 22 June 2001)

• Exxon accused of rights abuses: Esso parent group cited in US case over Indonesian violations (Audrey Gillan, Guardian [UK], 22 June 2001)

• US Oil Giant [Exxon] Sued Over Human Rights Abuses in Indonesia (Abid Aslam, Inter Press Service, 21 June 2001)

• ILRF [International Labor Rights Fund] sues Exxon Mobil [in United States court] on June 20, 2001 for human rights violations in Aceh [Indonesia] (International Labor Rights Fund, 20 June 2001)

Ford: case in U.S. court regarding alleged sexual harassment of female workers in USA factories:

• Ford increases settlement: Agreement gives $9 million to female workers at 2 plants (Melita Marie Garza, Chicago Tribune, 18 Nov. 2000)

• Judge questions EEOC settlement with Ford: Ruling allows women to file suit instead (Stephen Franklin, Chicago Tribune, 19 Oct. 1999)

• Ford pays millions in harassment settlement (Stephen Franklin, Chicago Tribune, 7 Sep. 1999)

• EEOC finds sexual harassment at Ford plants (Sallie Gaines, Chicago Tribune, 7 Jan. 1999)

• Ford punishes workers for sexual harassment (Stephen Franklin, Chicago Tribune, 23 Apr. 1998)

• Lawsuit alleges harassment, discrimination at two Ford plants (Nancy Millman, Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 1998)

Freeport-McMoRan: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in West Papua (Indonesia):

• full text of class action complaint in case of Beanal v. Freeport-McMoRan (29 April 1996)

• full text of Appellate Court's decision affirming lower court's dismissal of Beanal's claims (29 Nov. 1999)

• Speech by plaintiff Tom Beanal (at Loyola University, 28 Apr. 1997, in Austin Chronicle)

• comments by Freeport-McMoRan:

  • Freeport in Irian Jaya (Papua): A Summary of Recent Issues - August 17, 2001 (Freeport-McMoRan)

  • Issues & Answers: Legal Issues (Freeport-McMoRan)

• West Papua Information Kit: "Mining" (Australia West Papua Association, Sydney)

• Indonesia uses British jets to attack tribesmen (Richard Lloyd Parry, Independent [UK], 7 Oct. 2000)

• What's Yours Is Mine [reporting on memorandum of understanding between Tom Benal and Freeport's CEO] (Robert Bryce, Austin Chronicle, 1 Sep. 2000)

• Freeport-McMoRan: A Pit of Trouble - Can the miners make peace with critics of its West Papua operation? (Business Week, 31 July 2000)

• Beanal v. Freeport-McMoran, Inc.: ANATOMY OF AN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TORT CASE (Ethan Jessup, New England International & Comparative Law Annual, Vol. 5, 1999)

• Mining for Disaster (Robert Bryce, Austin Chronicle, 10 Dec. 1999)

• Scraping Bottom: Freeport McMoRan in Irian Jaya (NGO Taskforce on Business and Industry, 1997)

• Spinning Gold (Robert Bryce, Mother Jones, Sep./Oct. 1996)

  • Freeport-McMoRan's response: Who's Spinning Whom? (in "Backtalk", Mother Jones, Nov./Dec. 1996)

• From Austin to Indonesia: Independent Reports on Human Rights Abuses by the Suharto Regime Come Home to Texas (Robert Bryce, Texas Observer, 17 Nov. 1995)

  • Freeport-McMoRan's response: Letter to the Observer Editors (from Thomas Egan, Senior Vice President, Freeport-McMoRan, in Texas Observer, 12 Jan. 1996)

  • The Observer Editors Respond to Freeport (Texas Observer, 12 Jan. 1996)

  • Freeport writes a letter (letter to the Editors, from Thomas Egan, Senior Vice President, Freeport-McMoRan, in Texas Observer, 14 June 1996)

  • Primitive People: The Editors respond to Freeport. (Again.) (Texas Observer, 14 June 1996)

Gap and other retailers: case in U.S. court regarding the companies' conduct in Saipan:

• Levi Opts Out of Sweatshop Settlement - Levi Strauss & Co. has opted out of a $20-million settlement approved this week to compensate garment workers on the Pacific island of Saipan..."The allegations against Levi Strauss and company are not true," said company spokesman Jeff Beckman. (Reuters, 25 Apr. 2003)

• Outcome in Saipan labor case welcomed - The Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association issued a press release yesterday to say that it is pleased with the outcome of a lawsuit that alleged sweatshop conditions in the Saipan garment industry. (Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, Pacific Daily News, 15 Oct. 2002)

• For anti-sweatshop activists, recent settlement [by apparel companies in lawsuit over labour rights in Saipan] is only tip of iceberg - "While we have some significant victories like the Saipan one, companies at the same time are moving in the opposite direction, continuing to gravitate toward countries with as few safeguards for workers' rights as possible,"...in 2005...Retailers are expected to switch their manufacturing outsourcing from Saipan and other relatively high-cost locales to China, where wages are rock-bottom, labor abuses are ignored and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is a compliant tool of the government. (Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Sep. 2002)

• Clothiers fold on sweatshop lawsuit Saipan workers to get millions; Levi holds out (Robert Collier & Jenny Strasburg, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Sep. 2002)

• Seven More Retailers Settle Lawsuits Involving Workers in Saipan - Seven U.S. retailers [Gap, Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, Talbot's, J.C. Penney, Limited and Charming Shoppes Inc.'s Lane Bryant] settled a federal and California state class-action lawsuit alleging violations of workers' rights in Saipan garment factories in the U.S.'s Northern Mariana Islands. (Dow Jones Business News, 26 Sep. 2002)

• U.S. Clothing Retailers on Saipan Settle Landmark Workers' Rights Lawsuit - Retailers and Manufacturers to Fund Groundbreaking Independent Monitoring Program To Improve Labor Conditions on U.S. Territory -...The seven U.S. retailers - Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, Gap, Inc., J.C. Penney Company, Inc., Lane Bryant, Inc., The Limited, Inc., and Talbots, Inc. - join 19 other retailers that had previously settled. (Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, 26 Sep. 2002)

• Gap Settles Garment Workers Lawsuit - Retailer Gap Inc. on Thursday said it is settling all claims it is facing in a suit alleging violations of wage and hour laws and other workers' rights in Saipan garment factories in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Gap, the largest U.S. specialty apparel retailer, said it joined six other U.S. clothing retailers and 23 Saipan garment manufacturers in reaching a global settlement in the federal class-action lawsuit. (Reuters, 26 Sep. 2002)

• Statement From Lead Attorney for Workers in Saipan Human Rights Case in Response to Target's Dispute of Lawsuit Allegations - While Target claims that the lawsuit alleging violations of wage and hour laws and other workers' rights is baseless, we will let the facts stand for themselves. (Al Meyerhoff, Partner at Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes and Lerach, 26 Sep. 2002)

• Target Dismissed from Garment Factory Lawsuits; Company Asserts Class Action Abuse (Target Corp., 26 Sep. 2002) 

• A Long Way to Find Justice: What Are Burmese Villagers Doing in a California Court? -...American judges have embraced the opportunity to hold multinational corporations responsible for perceived abuses that result from international trade and investment [includes reference to cases against Unocal, Gap Inc., J.C. Penney, Levi Strauss, the Limited]...Companies need to scrutinize the practices of their business partners -- how they treat workers and the environment, how they interact with local military and political authorities -- to determine whether they violate international standards or offend the conscience of U.S. courts. (Elliot Schrage, former Senior Vice President of Global Affairs at Gap Inc., in Washington Post, 14 July 2002)

• U.S. clothing giants suffer blow from Saipan case rulings - A group of United States retailers, including Gap, J. C. Penney and Target, suffered a setback this week when a federal judge ruled that thousands of garment workers on the Pacific island of Saipan could sue the companies and their contracted factories as a class. The group also failed to block a US$ 8.7 million settlement by 19 other retailers, including Tommy Hilfiger and Liz Claiborne, which sets a strict code of conduct and opens up factories on the island to independent monitoring. (Nancy Cleeland, The Age [Australia] / Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2002)

  • Saipan judge certifies suit as class action: Ruling in dispute over garment factories a rebuff to Gap, Levi -...Defendants opposing the settlement included more than a dozen Saipan factory owners and nine retailers: Lane Bryant, the Limited, Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, J.C. Penney, and Talbots, in addition to Gap and Levi...However, with Munson's class-action certification, attorneys seeking to represent about 30,000 factory workers can move closer toward the preliminary settlement that has already been approved by 19 retailers. They include the Gymboree Corp. of Burlingame, Sears Roebuck and Co., Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Nordstrom, Liz Claiborne and Polo Ralph Lauren. (Jenny Strasburg, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 May 2002)

• Garment workers granted class action status in sweatshop suit [USA-Saipan] - Foreign garment workers have gained class action status in a federal racketeering lawsuit alleging sweatshop conditions in factories here that supply U.S. retailers, including the Gap. (AP, 15 May 2002)

• Summary of the Saipan Sweatshop Litigation [update regarding 3 lawsuits filed on behalf of thousands of workers who are currently working and formerly worked on the island of Saipan - 19 companies have settled; the following companies have not settled: GAP, Abercrombie and Fitch, Dayton Hudson, Levis, the Limited, and JC Penney] (Michael Rubin, Global Exchange website, 11 Mar. 2002)

• Gap resists settlement of Saipan sweatshop suit (Jenny Strasburg, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Mar. 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes updates on lawsuits against various U.S. apparel retailers & manufacturers of clothing produced in Saipan factories, including Gap] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Federal Court Judge Rejects Motion to Dismiss Landmark Sweatshop Class Action Against Saipan Garment Factories, The Gap, Target and Other Retailers [Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, USA] - First Case to Hold Retailers Accountable for Factory Sweatshop Abuses Will Proceed to Trial: In a closely-watched human rights case, a U.S. District Judge in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands today upheld the complaint in a class action lawsuit alleging sweatshop conditions on the Western Pacific Island of Saipan. This ruling allows the case to proceed to trial. (Sweatshop Watch, 29 Oct. 2001)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: "Global economy: Saipan" (Global Exchange)

• Summary of the Saipan Sweatshop Litigation (Sweatshop Watch, 15 May 2000)

• comments by Gap Inc.: "Saipan"

Garment factories in Bangladesh: case in Bangladesh court against government agencies and garment factories regarding their conduct in Bangladesh: 

• Fire incident: Showcause on govt, garments factories (Daily Star [Bangladesh], 29 Aug. 1997)

Hereros: Case in U.S. court against Germany & German companies for killings of over 65,000 Hereros in South West Africa (modern-day Namibia) between 1904 and 1907:

• NAMIBIA: Herero claims could go to court in US in March or April - The Hereros accuse Germany and two companies [Deutsche Bank and Woermann Line (now known as SAFmarine)] of forming a "brutal alliance" to exterminate over 65 000 Hereros between 1904 and 1907. (Southern Africa Documentation and Cooperation Centre, 22 Jan. 2003)

• Hereros Claim Against Berlin: Lawyers representing the Chief Hosea Kutako Foundation [which claims a combined US $2 billion in reparations from Deutsche Bank and Woermann Line (now known as SAFmarine)] have temporarily withdrawn a legal claim for reparations against a German company but added another against the German government, 'The Namibian' said on Thursday. Lawyer Philip Musolino was quoted as saying the case against Terex Corporation had been temporarily dropped after the company claimed in court papers submitted recently that it was under different management at the time of the atrocities...The foundation, headed by Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako, has accused the German companies and the government of forming a "brutal alliance" to exterminate over 65,000 Hereros between 1904 and 1907. (UN Integrated Regional Information Network, 21 Sep. 2001)

• Hereros Sue German Firms for Reparations: The Herero community in Namibia has instituted a legal claim against three German companies for $2bn in reparations. The Hereros' Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako, who heads the Chief Hosea Kutako Foundation, said yesterday that the lawsuit against Deutsche Bank, Terex Corporation and Woermann Line (now known as SAFmarine) in Washington DC, US, would be followed by one against the German government. They accuse the three German companies of forming a "brutal alliance" with imperial Germany to exterminate more than 65000 Hereros between 1904 and 1907. (Business Day [Johannesburg], 6 Sep. 2001)

  • A bloody history: Namibia's colonisation - With calls for colonial reparations being made in the run up to the racism conference in Durban, Martin Plaut looks at the German colonisation of South West Africa - modern-day Namibia...On 2 October 1904 the German commander, General von Trotha issued the following proclamation: "I, the great general of the German troops, send this letter to the Herero people... All Hereros must leave this land... Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall no longer receive any women or children; I will drive them back to their people. I will shoot them. This is my decision for the Herero people." (BBC News, 29 Aug. 2001)

J. Crew, Venator Group Canada, and other retailers: case in Canadian court regarding the companies' conduct in Canada:

• Class-action lawsuit targets sweatshops (Bruce Livesey, Eye, 20 July 2000)

Labour conditions in India: case requesting Indian court to order government agency to protect workers

• Activist moves court over breach of human rights (Times of India, 24 Jan. 2001)

Mitsubishi: case in U.S. court regarding alleged sexual harassment of female workers in USA factory

• EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] Responds to Final Report of Mitsubishi Consent Decree Monitors: Commission Says Control of Sexual Harassment in Future May Depend on Auto Maker's Adoption of Recommendations [USA] (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 23 May 2001)

• Mitsubishi Settles Sexual Harassment Suit (Court TV Legal Documents, June 1998)

• Isolated incidents? (Online News Hour, Public Broadcasting Service, 26 Apr. 1996)

• Mitsubishi accused of sexual harassment on 'outrageous scale' (Minnesota Daily, 10 Apr. 1996)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mistubishi International, Mitsui & Co., Mitsui Mining, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Nippon Steel, and other Japanese companies: case in U.S. court regarding alleged forced labour by prisoners of war in Asia/Pacific during World War II:

• Holocaust Restitution in the United States and Other Claims For Historical Wrongs - An Update [includes updates on human rights-related lawsuits against Credit Suisse, Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation, German & Austrian banks, French banks, Barclays Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan, European insurance companies, Ford Motor Co., German corporations including Degussa and Siemens; Japanese corporations including Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Nippon Steel; New York Life Insurance Co.] (Michael J. Bazyler, Professor of Law at Whittier Law School, in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Senate urges government to negotiate for World War II prisoners [regarding lawsuits against Japanese companies] (Associated Press, CNN.com, 1 Nov. 2000)

• U.S. Litigation Concerning Japanese Forced Labor in World War II (David Caron and Adam Schneider, ASIL Insight, American Society of International Law, Oct. 2000)

• Slave Wages: Those forced to labor for Japan in World War II are now suing in California courts (Bernice Yeung, SFWeekly.com, 5 July 2000)

• Lawsuits to seek billions in compensation from Japanese corporations that used slave laborers during WWII (PR Newswire, 22 Feb. 2000)

Nike: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Asia:

• Nike defends claims of sweatshop labour and false advertising -...the United States Supreme Court is about to hear a landmark case about whether Nike's defence of labour conditions in its factories represents false advertising. Nike is asking the Supreme Court to protect free speech by giving companies immunity from laws against false advertising...Nike's critics say false claims made in a speech is just as misleading to consumers as a claim made in a paid commercial. (AM, ABC Local Radio [Australia], 21 Apr. 2003)

• Nike: Free Speech or "False Promises"? - On Apr. 23, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear charges that Nike committed consumer fraud by making false statements about the labor conditions in its overseas factories. (Aaron Bernstein, Business Week, 9 Apr. 2003)

• Domini files amicus brief with Supreme Court in Nike v. Kasky - Socially Responsible Investors Argue that Nike’s Position Threatens Securities Regulation - Domini Social Investments LLC today announced that it has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that supports San Francisco activist Marc Kasky in his effort to hold Nike accountable for its statements concerning the company’s use of sweatshop labor. (Domini Social Investments, 7 Apr. 2003)

• Book Review: Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights - In the Kasky v. Nike case...Nike's claim to free speech rights is predicated on an 1886 Supreme Court case that established "corporate personhood" and extended citizens' rights to corporations. However, the [U.S.] Supreme Court justices' 1886 decision did not, in fact, establish corporate personhood, according to author Thom Hartmann. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 21 Feb. 2003)

• Supreme Court to take up Nike and free speech [USA] - S.F. activist sued, saying firm lied about working conditions (Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Jan. 2003)

  • Supreme Court takes free speech vs. advertising case [USA] - The court will use the case brought against sporting apparel giant Nike to define the differences between corporate free speech and product advertising for companies accused of transgressions such as poor labor and environmental practices. (Josh Richman, Tri-Valley Herald, 11 Jan. 2003)

• The industry needs a ruling in favor of truth, not Nike [case in U.S. court regarding Nike's denial of labour abuses at its supplier factories in Asia] - Sad is the professional society that doesn't recognize a gift when it sees it. Yet that is precisely what happened when the PRSA [Public Relations Society of America] and other industry groups filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision and permit corporations to play loose with their facts...let's hope the Supreme Court doesn't take a step back and sanction misleading statements and half-truths. (Jeff Seideman, president of the Boston Chapter of the PRSA, in PR Week, 16 Dec. 2002)

• Nike in free speech battle [Kasky v. Nike: U.S. court case relating to Nike’s treatment of workers in a Vietnam factory] (Rebecca Spencer, Corporate Watch [UK], 13 Nov. 2002)

• Short-sighted victories in free speech - The case against Nike in the US [Kasky v. Nike, case alleging false advertising regarding labour conditions]...could have devastating consequences for companies and campaigners alike, says Mallen Baker -...The risks involved in disclosure have just gone through the roof. (Mallen Baker, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 13 Nov. 2002)

• California supreme court decision potentially devastating for corporate responsibility reporting and SRI funds worldwide - The decision by the California courts against Nike [in the case of Kasky v Nike, relating to Nike's public defense of allegations of “sweatshop” labour in its Asian factories] has created a great deal of uncertainty among US corporations, reports Peter Clarke (Peter Clarke, Director of SRIMedia, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 17 Oct. 2002)

• Calif. court says Nike can be sued for false ads (Andrew Quinn, Reuters, 2 May 2002)

  • California Supreme Court says Nike can be sued for false ads - Nike Inc. can be sued by a California man who alleges the athletic shoe and apparel maker violated false advertising laws with an ad campaign defending the wages, treatment and safety conditions of workers at overseas factories run by contractors. (Karen Gaudette, Associated Press, 2 May 2002)

• full text of complaint in case of Kasky v. Nike (1998 civil lawsuit in California court alleging Nike misled customers about working conditions in its Asian factories)

• California's Supreme Court to Decide Corporate Whitewash Trial: Suit charging Nike with false advertising regarding its labor practices has implications for corporate image advertising (SocialFunds.com, 2 Mar. 2001)

• Greenwashing on Trial (Josh Richman, Mother Jones, 27 Feb. 2001)

• "State high court to decide if Nike violated false-advertising laws" (Associated Press, 22 June 2000)

• comments by Nike: "California Appellate Court Upholds Trial Court Decision in Nike v. Kasky case" (Nike, 21 Mar. 2000)

• full text of decision by California Court of Appeal in case of Kasky v. Nike, affirming lower court's dismissal of the case (20 Mar. 2000)

• "Nike sued over Sweatshop on Labor Abuses" (S. Winokur, San Francisco Examiner, 20 Apr. 1998)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: "Nike sued over sweatshop conditions!!!" (Communications Works, 20 Apr. 1998)

Rio Tinto: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Bougainville - Papua New Guinea:

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against Rio Tinto for conduct in Papua New Guinea] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• "Oceanic Islanders Use Federal Law to Sue British Mining Giant Rio Tinto for Alleged Ecocide and Human Rights Crimes" (Business Wire, 6 Sep. 2000)

Shell: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Nigeria [alleged complicity in human rights abuses]:

• Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) [webpage summarising the case] (EarthRights International)

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• Shell on Trial in the Niger Delta: This week multinational Shell Petroleum Development Corporation settled one of two major cases brought against them by local peoples suffering the consequences of their operations in the Niger Delta. [settlement of lawsuit for alleged damage to Ogbodo community caused by oil pipeline explosion; also refers to ongoing lawsuit on behalf of the relatives of Ogoni environmental activist Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others who were publicly executed in Nigeria after speaking out against environmental degradation caused by Shell operations in 1995] (Cultural Survival, 1 Apr. 2002)

• Shell to Stand Trial for 1990s Human Rights Abuses in Nigeria: A U.S. Federal Court rejected Shell's plea to dismiss a case charging the company with human rights abuses in Nigeria dating back to 1995. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 8 Mar. 2002)

• Lawsuit Against Shell for Human Rights Violations in Nigeria to Proceed: A U.S. Federal Court has ruled that a civil lawsuit [Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.] charging multinational oil giant Shell with complicity in human rights violations will go forward. (EarthRights International, 5 Mar. 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against Royal Dutch/Shell] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Court clears way for relatives to sue Shell over Saro-Wiwa's death (Andrew Buncombe, Independent [UK], 27 Mar. 2001)

• Shell appeal over Nigerian executions rejected (Patti Waldmeir and David Buchan, Financial Times, 26 Mar. 2001)

• "Shell to face US lawsuit for Saro-Wiwa execution: Anglo-Dutch oil company fails to have a multi-million pound civil claim by Nigerian emigres thrown out by New York appeal court" (Karen McGregor, Independent [UK], 19 Sep. 2000)

• "US court to hear Ogoni rights case against Shell" (Reuters, 14 Sep. 2000) 

• full text of September 2000 decision by U.S. appellate court in case of Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, ruling that the lower court erred when it dismissed the complaint on jurisdictional grounds (U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, 14 Sep. 2000)

• Amended complaint in case of Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (29 Apr. 1997)

Shell: Case in Nigerian court regarding the company's environmental conduct in Nigeria:

• Nigerian Court Fines Shell $40 Million for 1970 Spill (Environment News Service, 26 June 2000)

Texaco (now ChevronTexaco): case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Ecuador:

• Suit Says ChevronTexaco Dumped Poisons in Ecuador - A group of American lawyers representing more than 30,000 indigenous people in Ecuador filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the ChevronTexaco Corporation yesterday. The suit was filed in Ecuador on behalf of 88 plaintiffs in Lago Agrio, a small oil town in northern Ecuador, and asserts that during two decades of operation, from 1971 to 1992, ChevronTexaco dumped over four million gallons a day of toxic wastewater, contaminated with oil, heavy metals and carcinogens into open pits, estuaries and rivers. It also says the company left behind nearly 350 open waste pits that killed people and animals. (Abby Ellin, New York Times, 8 May 2003) 

• Ecuadorean Indians sue Texaco -...They are also alleging the company's activities have led to an increased risk of cancer among the local population. ChevronTexaco rejects the allegations and says the company met all its obligations under Ecuadorean law. (BBC News, 8 May 2003)

• U.S. lawyers take US$1 billion lawsuit against ChevronTexaco to Ecuador - A decade after unsuccessfully filing in U.S. courts, American lawyers representing poor Ecuadoreans who say their rainforest homeland was destroyed by a U.S oil company took their claim to Ecuador Tuesday. (Gonzalo Solano, Associated Press, 7 May 2003)

• Case in Ecuador Viewed As Key Pollution Fight - U.S. Legal Team Suing ChevronTexaco - Legal experts say it could be a groundbreaking case, establishing a new way for environmental activists to force multinational corporations to pay for what activists say is environmental devastation. (Brooke A. Masters, Washington Post, 6 May 2003)

• Amazon Indians lose appeal of Texaco case ruling - Rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru have lost an appeal aimed at reinstating nine-year-old litigation against Texaco, alleging that toxic dumping devastated their environment and exposed residents to cancer-causing pollutants. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed a trial court's ruling dismissing two class-action lawsuits on grounds that the United States was not the proper place for the litigation, and that Ecuador would be a more convenient location. (Gail Appleson, Reuters, 21 Aug. 2002)

• {···français} Un pipe-line sème maladies et pollutions en Amazonie - En Équateur, l’oléoduc «El sote» est une catastrophe de 500 kilomètres de long. Gigantesque serpent de métal, le Système d’oléoduc transéquatorien (SOTE) a été construit dans les années septante sous l’impulsion de la Texaco. Depuis 1993, la compagnie américaine est poursuivie en justice par les communautés amérindiennes de l’Équateur, mais aussi du Pérou, pour pollution grave de la forêt amazonienne. Le verdict sera rendu cet automne. (Le Courrier [Genève], 9 août 2002)

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• {···español} Instancia decisiva en litigio con la Texaco [Ecuador]: La justicia de Estados Unidos deberá fallar esta semana sobre la procedencia de una demanda iniciada en 1993 por indígenas de Ecuador contra la compañía petrolera ChevronTexaco, a la que acusan de contaminar la selva amazónica. (Danielle Knight, Inter Press Service, in La Hora [Ecuador], 17 marzo 2002)  

• Ecuador, Defending the Amazon (Peter Lippman, The Advocacy Project, Feb. 2002)

  chapters include:

  • Legal Issues: The Right to Consultation and the Texaco Lawsuit
   
• Ecuador Amazon Indians appeal Texaco-case ruling: Rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru urged a U.S. appeals court to reinstate nine-year-old litigation against Texaco, alleging that toxic dumping devastated their environment and exposed residents to cancer-causing pollutants (Gail Appleson, Reuters, 13 Mar. 2002)

• Rainforest Indians [from Ecuador] in New York for major showdown with Chevron-Texaco: Billions at stake as tribal leaders press groundbreaking lawsuit before Appeals Court - Assert Texaco ruined their rivers and land, destroying their centuries-old way of life...and dramatically increased the risk of cancer for tens of thousands of people. (Frente para la Defensa de la Amazonia, 11 Mar. 2002)

• {···español} TC define caso Texaco [Ecuador]: La suerte del juicio que los colonos e indígenas amazónicos plantearon en contra de la petrolera Texaco desde 1993 por perjuicios al medio ambiente en una corte de la ciudad de Nueva York, se definirá en los próximos días en el Tribunal Constitucional. (La Hora [Ecuador], 7 marzo 2002)

• Ecuador hopes for settlement in ChevronTexaco case: Ecuador's attorney general said this week he is fighting to help indigenous groups settle a nine-year-old lawsuit charging that water contamination by oil giant Texaco Inc. caused more than $120 million in damages and injuries. (Manuela Badawy, Reuters, 28 Feb. 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against Texaco] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Caution Issued to Chevron Shareholders: New Ad Campaign Warns Chevron That It Must Pay Billions For Texaco's Dumping In Amazon Rainforest - Texaco's huge liability poses major obstacle for SEC approval of merger with Chevron; Texaco again charged with race discrimination (Frente para la defensa de la Amazonia, 9 Aug. 2001)
  • Texaco website: Texaco and Ecuador (Texaco)
  • Chevron website: Spotlight: Chevron Texaco Merger (Chevron)
   
• Texaco Left Toxic Legacy in Ecuador: A group representing more than 30,000 Ecuadoreans is suing Texaco in U.S. District Court, charging that the company dumped some 4.3 million gallons a day of toxic oil waste water into the Amazon. Texaco also left behind more than 300 open waste pits contaminated with heavy metals and other carcinogenic hydrocarbon compounds. The Ecuador plaintiffs have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Chevron has not adequately divulged the huge potential liability of the lawsuit to its shareholders. For those living in the shadow of Texaco's shining star, the company's toxic legacy in Ecuador will never fade. The SEC must insist that the company settle its liabilities in Ecuador as a condition for the merger. (letter to the editor from Kevin Koenig, Amazon Watch, in Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2001)

• Judge dismisses Indians suits against Texaco - A federal judge [U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff] this week dismissed lawsuits against Texaco brought by rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru who alleged the oil company contaminated their water and land (Reuters, 1 June 2001) 

• Chevron's Board Urged to Disclose Texaco's Liabilities in the Ecuadorian Amazon in the Merger Proceedings: Evidence Detailing More than Three Hundred and Fifty Contaminated Sites Handed to Chevron's Chairman (Amazon Watch, 26 Apr. 2001)

• Texaco on Trial (Eyal Press, The Nation, 31 May 1999)

• Colonos' complaint (Emily Walmsley, Index on Censorship, 8 Aug. 1997)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: "Aguinda v. Texaco, Jota v. Texaco: Questions & Answers"

• comments by Texaco: "Ecuador: Legal Archives"  

Texaco: Case in U.S. court regarding the company's alleged racial discrimination against employees in USA:

• full text of court's order: Bari-Ellen Roberts et. al. v. Texaco (United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 29 July 1997)

• Portrait Of A Company Behaving Badly: The inside story of how Texaco's black employees forced the company to pay for its racist sins (Bari-Ellen Roberts; Jack E. White, Time, 16 Mar. 1998)

• Former Texaco Executive Indictment (Department of Justice press release, 19 Nov. 1996, on Court TV Library website)

• Texaco settles race bias suit for $176 million (Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 1996)

• Texaco announces settlement in class action lawsuit: Company moving ahead vigorously with broader actions to promote greater diversity, tolerance and economic opportunity (Texaco, 15 Nov. 1996)

• Statement of Peter I. Bijur, Chairman and CEO, Texaco Inc., to company employees (Texaco, 15 Nov. 1996)

Top Line Electronics: case in U.S. court regarding alleged labour abuses in Silicon Valley [USA]:

• Piecework lawsuit settled: Claim over man's home assembly of electronics (K. Oanh Ha, SiliconValley.com, 13 Nov. 2000)

Union Carbide [Dow Chemical]: cases in courts of India and U.S. regarding the company's conduct in India:

• Bhopal Gas Victims to File Appeal in US Court - Victims of the world's worst-ever industrial disaster said Friday they would continue their fight for compensation despite a United States court's March 20 dismissal of their claim for damages in a protracted law suit against American multinational Union Carbide. (OneWorld South Asia, 28 Mar. 2003)

• USA: Judge Tosses Bhopal Lawsuit - A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Tuesday that sought damages for those living near the deadly 1984 gas leak that killed thousands in Bhopal, India, saying Union Carbide Corp. had done enough and that too much time had passed. (Larry Neumeister, Associated Press, 18 Mar. 2003)

• Analysis: Dow Chemical and Bhopal – the continuing debate on responsibility - Dow Chemical is coming under renewed pressure in 2003 over the long-running issue of the Bhopal accident in 1984. Dale Crofts examines the situation (Dale Crofts, Research Fellow at the Centre for Organisation Reputation and Relationships at Henley Management College UK, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 22 Feb. 2003)

• Global Funds Tell Union Carbide To Settle Bhopal Gas Leak Claims - A group of international investor funds which includes Trillium Asset Management, Domini Social Investments and the Calvert Group (together managing a combined asset value of $13 billion) have advised Union Carbide to settle claims of economic, health and environmental liabilities of over $500 million (Rs 2,500 crore) stemming out of the Bhopal gas leak...A letter has been sent jointly by a group of funds to the Dow Chemical Company, which took over Union Carbide in 2001 along with all its assets and liabilities. (Ajay Jain, Financial Express [India], 5 Dec. 2002)

• Negligence caused Bhopal disaster: Report - Negligence by Union Carbide and not sabotage was responsible for the Bhopal gas disaster, the British journal New Scientist said on Thursday basing its conclusion on documents just released in the United States. (Times of India, 5 Dec. 2002)

• Fresh evidence on Bhopal disaster - The company that built and owned the Bhopal chemical plant in India [Union Carbide, acquired by Dow Chemical in 2001] cut crucial corners in its design, documents just released in the US suggest. (Debora MacKenzie, New Scientist, 4 Dec. 2002)

• India to pursue extradition of Bhopal accused - India is determined to press the United States for the extradition of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson over a 1984 gas disaster that killed thousands, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday. (Reuters, 6 Sep. 2002)

• Years pass, but tears still flow in India's Bhopal -...Although the Indian government's civil case against Union Carbide, which merged with U.S.-based Dow Chemical Co two years ago, was settled in 1989 for $470 million, criminal cases continue in Indian courts. (Maria Abraham, Reuters, 6 Sep. 2002)

• India: Court Upholds Charges Against US Executive for Bhopal Deaths - A court ruled that a former chairman of US-based Union Carbide should face culpable homicide charges over the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, rejecting the Indian government's attempt to dilute them to negligence. (Agence France Presse, 28 Aug. 2002)

• Shadows of 'that night': the struggle for justice for Bhopal - A letter from Indra Sinha, pleading for justice for the victims of the Union Carbide gas disaster in India. (New Internationalist, 12 July 2002)

• Bhopal Survivors Stage Protest Over Lessened Accusation - India Seeks to Reduce Charge Facing Ex-Union Carbide Boss...The [Indian] government has asked the Bhopal District Court to reduce the charges against Anderson from culpable homicide to negligence. (Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, 8 July 2002)

  • Indian government goes soft on Bhopal crimes - Indians protest reduced charges for Union Carbide CEO (Greenpeace, 10 July 2002)
   
  • Carbide Victims Oppose Move - Bhopal Gas Victims Oppose Move to Let Off Anderson (Basharat Peer, Rediff India, 11 July 2002)

• Dow Shall Be Liable [India] - More than 500 survivors of the Union Carbide 1984 gas leak from Bhopal protested outside the Dow headquarters in Mumbai, accusing the Michigan-based company of double standards and racism (Darryl D'Monte and Nityanand Jayaraman, CorpWatch India, 8 Apr. 2002)

• The Winds Of Liability in Bhopal [India] [refers to Union Carbide and Dow Chemical] (Dilip D'Souza, special to CorpWatch India, 25 Mar. 2002)

• Bhopal's Legacy:...Survivors' organisations believe that a November 15, 2001, decision of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirms their claims of environmental damages due to Union Carbide's routine pollution in Bhopal. This, they say, is likely to have far-reaching consequences for Dow Chemical, which took over Union Carbide earlier this year. (Sandhya Srinivasan, CorpWatch, 6 Dec. 2001)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against  Union Carbide] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Bhopal: "Legal update" (WWW.BHOPAL.NET)

• Bhopal Survivors Target Dow Chemical: Launch New Campaign (National Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, 28 Feb. 2001)

• "USA: Carbide CEO Fugitive in Bhopal Suit" (C. Hedges, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2000)

• Full text of Dec. 1999 class action complaint in U.S. court against Union Carbide and former CEO Warren Anderson  

• "Union Carbide Sued in U.S. for 1984 Bhopal Gas Release" (F. Noronha, Environment News Service, 16 Nov. 1999)

• Bhopal and the Age of Globalization (Gary Cohen, Nov. 1999) 

• Bhopal disaster lingers after nearly 15 years (Danielle Knight, Inter Press Service, 22 June 1999)

• An Unending Nightmare: Union Carbide in Bhopal (NGO Taskforce on Business and Industry, 1997)

• Book review/summary of The Uncertain Promise of Law: Lessons from Bhopal (Jamie Cassels, University of Toronto Press, 1993) 

Unocal: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Burma:

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: "Unocal in Burma: Profits before People - Judge Ronald S.W. Lew Rules Against Slave Laborers Working for Unocal in Burma", including full text of U.S. Federal District Court Judge Lew's decision dismissing the case (International Labor Rights Fund)

• comments by Unocal: "Unocal in Myanmar: The story you haven't heard about...The activists' lawsuits"

• Appellate court ruling means potential trial for Unocal over Myanmar project - A state [California] appellate court ruling could lead to a trial against Unocal Corp. over allegations that it shares responsibility for abuses allegedly conducted by troops guarding a pipeline project in Myanmar. Refugees from the southeast Asian nation formally known as Burma have accused Unocal of being complicit in slavery, murder and rape related to the 1990s construction of the $1.2 billion Yadana pipeline. (Associated Press, 29 Mar. 2003)

• Holding Businesses and Burma's Government Responsible for Human Rights Abuses -...the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) is using American courts to enforce international human rights standards and punish multinational corporations that abuse them...The suit charges that Unocal knowingly used forced labor for the pipeline, which was completed in 1998. (Terry Collingsworth, Open Society News, fall/winter 2002-3)

• Plaintiffs Win Ninth Circuit Victory over Unocal - On September 18, 2002, the [U.S.] Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a landmark decision against Unocal Corp, allowing plaintiffs to proceed to trial in federal court on their claims that they were forced to labor on Unocal’s pipeline project in Burma. (International Labor Rights Fund, 18 Sep. 2002)

  • full text of U.S. court decision ordering Unocal to stand trial for human rights abuses in Burma (decision by U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, 18 Sep. 2002)
   
• Court Tells Unocal to Face Rights Charges - An appellate court said today that the Unocal Corporation must face a trial in the United States over claims of human-rights abuses involving villagers in Myanmar who worked on the company's $1.2 billion pipeline there. (Bloomberg News, in New York Times, 18 Sep. 2002)

• Unocal must face trial in Myanmar human rights suit - Oil giant Unocal Corp. must stand trial in a lawsuit by villagers in Myanmar who were allegedly subjected to forced labor, rape and murder by that country's military during construction of a gas pipeline, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday (Dan Whitcomb, Reuters, 18 Sep. 2002) 

• Unocal to Face Trial Alleging Human-Rights Abuses (Update3) (Karen Gullo, Bloomberg News, 18 Sep. 2002)

• Unocal wants government to quash labour lawsuit - Unocal, the US oil company, told a California court yesterday that American foreign policy interests could be harmed by a lawsuit that alleges the company used forced labour in Burma. The move comes just days after the US government warned a Washington DC court that a pending lawsuit against Exxon Mobil over alleged abuses in Indonesia would hinder the war on terrorism and jeopardise foreign investment in a key ally. (Edward Alden, Financial Times, 9 Aug. 2002)

  • Judge Lets Unocal Ask State Dept. to Intervene in Myanmar Lawsuit - A Los Angeles judge Thursday granted a request by Unocal to ask the State Department to intervene in a lawsuit by Myanmar villagers who allege that the Myanmar military protecting a Unocal pipeline project dragooned villagers into slave labor, attorneys said. (Sonni Efron, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2002)

• Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. Finally, these corporation-chasers are beginning to see signs of possible success. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 15 July 2002)

• A Long Way to Find Justice: What Are Burmese Villagers Doing in a California Court? -...American judges have embraced the opportunity to hold multinational corporations responsible for perceived abuses that result from international trade and investment [includes reference to cases against Unocal, Gap Inc., J.C. Penney, Levi Strauss, the Limited]...Companies need to scrutinize the practices of their business partners -- how they treat workers and the environment, how they interact with local military and political authorities -- to determine whether they violate international standards or offend the conscience of U.S. courts. (Elliot Schrage, former Senior Vice President of Global Affairs at Gap Inc., in Washington Post, 14 July 2002)

• Investment and Human Rights: The Era of Responsibility - As an American oil company [Unocal] heads to court [in USA] for alleged human-rights abuses in Burma, a new era of foreign investment begins in which firms must carefully consider the behaviour of their partners [also refers to lawsuits against Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil] (Murray Hiebert, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 July 2002)

• Bad business in Burma - In a boon for human rights and corporate responsibility, a Superior Court judge in California last week refused to dismiss a suit charging that the energy company Unocal is liable for human rights abuses perpetrated by the military junta in Burma while the regime was under contract to provide security for Unocal and its partners in a natural gas pipeline project. (editorial, Boston Globe, 16 June 2002)

  • ‘The Party Is Over’ - A California judge has paved the way for Burmese workers to sue oil giant Unocal over ‘slave labor’ working conditions. Should other multinationals be concerned? (Newsweek, 21 June 2002)

• Unocal to Face Suit on Human Rights - The Unocal Corporation, the oil and gas company, faces a September trial over charges that it was responsible for human rights abuses during the construction of a $1.3 billion pipeline in Myanmar, the plaintiffs' lawyer said today. (Reuters, in New York Times, 12 June 2002)

• Judge OKs Unocal Abuse Lawsuit - A group of Burmese refugees won a landmark victory Tuesday when a Los Angeles judge ruled that Unocal Corp. could be tried for human rights violations, including forced labor, that allegedly occurred during construction of a $1.2-billion natural gas pipeline in Myanmar. (Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2002)

• Unocal Will Stand Trial Over Myanmar Venture - In a First, Judge Rules U.S. Company May Be Liable for Overseas Abuses (Peter Waldman, Wall Street Journal, 11June 2002)

• Unocal Faces Trial For Rights Abuses -...Yesterday in California, a judge asserted international jurisdiction in a way that some U.S. companies may not be so happy about. A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles ordered Unocal to stand trial for human rights abuses allegedly committed in association with a pipeline project in Myanmar. Judge Victoria Chaney denied a Unocal motion for summary judgment (Dan Ackman, Forbes, 12 June 2002)

• Corporate Complicity From Nuremberg to Rangoon: An Examination of Forced Labor Cases and Their Impact on the Liability of Multinational Corporations - Abstract: The article looks at nature and degree of complicity that gives rise to liability on the part of multinational corporations (MNCs) that operate in countries with repressive regimes. Specifically, it examines lawsuits in United States against these MNCs for violations of public international law under the federal Alien Torts Claim Act (ATCA). It also views the historical origins of corporate complicity, and examines the outcomes of British and American war crimes tribunal set up after the Second World War. Further, the article compares and contrasts these historical cases with the recent case brought in the federal district court against Unocal Corporation for alleged use of force labor in its pipeline project in Burma. (Professor Anita Ramasastry, University of Washington School of Law, in Berkeley Journal of International Law, vol. 20 no. 1, 2002)

• Doe v. Unocal: Forced Labor and Corporate Liability [Burma] - Burmese villagers brought a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court charging the consortium with profiting from forced labor. "Doe v. Unocal: Forced Labor and Corporate Liability" presents a legal issue: whether Unocal is liable for the human rights violations of its government joint venture partner. (Howard Tolley, Jr. & Anne Lawrence, THRO - Teaching Human Rights Online, Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, 2002)

  • Doe v. Unocal: Case Outline
  • Audio of the opening Arguments and Rebuttals in the Doe vs Unocal case

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against Unocal for conduct in Burma] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Recent ILRF [International Labor Rights Fund] Cases to Enforce Human Rights Under the ATCA [includes reference to human rights-related cases against Unocal, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp] (Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of International Labor Rights Fund, in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Unocal closer to trial over human rights violations: California Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney yesterday rejected Unocal Corp's bid to dismiss claims that it facilitated and abetted human rights abuses on its Yadana Pipeline project in Burma. (Pravit Rojanaphruk, Burmanet, 8 Sep. 2001)

• Burmese workers suing Unocal in Los Angeles will have their day in court: Claims that Unocal Knowingly Benefited from Rights Abuses to be Heard in Superior Court (International Labor Rights Fund, 30 Aug. 2001)

• Plaintiffs Win Round in Yadana Lawsuit [case against Unocal] (Earthrights International/International Labor Rights Fund, 6 Mar. 2001)

• While Judge Ronald Lew has dismissed the case charging Unocal with liability for human rights abuses, attorneys of the plaintiffs are encouraged by prospects for a successful appeal (Jed Greer and Tyler Giannini, EarthRights International, October 2000)

• Claim Against Unocal Rejected: Judge Cites Evidence of Abuses in Burma but No Jurisdiction (William Branigin, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2000)

• Blood and Oil in Burma (Daniel Zwerdling, American RadioWorks, National Public Radio, Mar. 2000)

• Unocal's response to "Blood and Oil in Burma" (Unocal, 10 Mar. 2000)

• Forced labour in Myanmar (Burma) (International Labour Organization, 2 July 1998)